Indicator



W. F. SIVIITH AND E. P; SANFORD.

IIIIIIII To all whom t may concern.'k

. UNITED sriiriis 'PATENT oiiiiioii.l l I WILLIAM r. SMITH, AND EDWIN P. sANronD, or FLINT, MICHIGAN.

INDICATOR.

' Speccation of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9, 41920.

Application filed May 16, 1916, Serial No.`97,874. Renewed August 6, 1919. Serial No. 315,786.

Be itknown that we, WILLIAM and EDWIN P. SANFORD, citizens of the United States, residing at `Flint, in the county of Genesee and State of Michigan,- have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indicators; and we do Yhereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and vuse the same.

- Our invention relates to new and useful improvements in indicators vand more par- 1,30 rollers, Y

ticularly to that class adapted to be used for indicating streetcrossings, railway stations, and the like, and our object is to provide a cabinet in which are positioned rollers which are adapted to receive and wind thereon a belt having the names of various streets or stations printed thereon, which names are adapted to be successively brought v.into egistration with a visual space or window in one face ofthe cabinet. l ,e v

A further Objectis toprovideelectrically operated means for rotating said .rollers to wind the belt thereon.y

Means for reversing the travelof the belt, Means to regulate'the movementv of parts And means for energizing parts of the operating mechanism by a current taken from a trolley wire,

consists in the improved construction, ar-

. rangement, and combination of parts hereinafter fully described', Y and afterward spe# ciiically claimed,

In the accompanying drawin,ef,s, k vFigure 1l represents a rear elevation of the Y cabinet showing the means for rotating the rollers,

Fig. 2, a side elevation thereof, A Fig. 3,-a side elevation of the upper part ofV a trolley pole and wire showing means for obtaining current from the trolley wire to operate the indicator,I i,

Fig. 4, atop plan view thereof, and Fig. 5, a top plan view of the lower end of the trolleypole and-parts to which it is connected. A g Referring to the drawings in which vsimilar reference numerals designate corresponding parts'throughout the several figures, 1

F. SMITH' indicates the cabinet which may be construct-ed in any preferred manner and of any preferred material, preferably of wood, in one Wall of which is provided a visual space or slot2 before which vtravels a belt 3,V attached tol rollers 4 and, mounted upon jacent the forward face of the cabinet so that it will be brought in` close proximity to the visual spaceQ as it travels from one roller to the other. The upper Vroller 4t is rotated in one direction by means of a gear 11 carried by a shaft 12 and an idle gear 13 interposed ing therewith will be rotated. -IT he shaft 12 carrying the gear 11 is ,rotatably mounted in a substantially Ufshaped frame 17, having slots 18 through which the shaft 7 eX- tends, while the side-wall of the cabinet is likewise provided with a slot 19 through `between the gears 8 Yand 11, Ythe shafty12 I 'having a ratchet 11i fixed thereon with which which the` shaft 12 projects. An adjusting i screw 9.0 is extended through an Vopening 1n the lower end of the U-shaped frame 17 and threaded into the cabinet. Collars are ,fixed Vith these objects in view, the invention on the screw 2() to rotatably bear onopposite sides of the frame 20, whereby whenV the .screw is adjusted the frame maybe moved up or down to throw the gear l1 into andV out of engagement with the gears 13 and 9. When the gear 11 is lowered into engagement with the gear 9 and the lever 16 is rocked, the roller 5 willbe rotated and the belt wound thereon. i

The lever 16 is rocked upon the shaft 12y by attaching thereto one end of a plunger 21, the opposite end of the vplunger cooperating with a coil 22 of a solenoid 23, said solenoid being attached at any convenient point to distance, the breaking of the circuit through the solenoid releasing the pull from the plunn ger, whereupon the Weight of the same will swing` the lever to its lowered position ready to again iinpart rotating motion to the gear when the plunger is again elevated. l/Vhen the indicator. is used in connection with street railways or interurban cars, the electricity igor operating the solenoid is obtained ytroni the trolley wire 2li by attaching to the stay wire 25-usu'ally employed ior supporting` the trolley wire, a contact linger 26 depending i'oin the stay wire and in position to be engaged by a. contact arin 27 carried by thc trolley pole 28.

j The current is conducted from the contact arni 27 through a wire 29 to a circular plate 30, attached to the lower. end oiE the trolley pole and rotatable therewith, the current being conducted from the plate 30 through a 'crush 3l positioned below the plate and through a wire 32 to one pole ot the solenoid. The opposite V4pole ,oil the solenoid is connected to a wire 33 thence through a resistance coil 34 to the ground, said wire 33 having a switch 35 for controlling the circuit throughV the solenoid.

In operation, when'the car is traveling in one direction and the switch in the wire 33 is closed, vthe contact of the arin 2? with one of the fingers 26 will electrically energize the coil 22 and ino've the plunger 2l 30V vertically a suilicient distance to bring the narne ot the next street or station to position 'in 'front ot the visual space :2, this opera- V tion being successively performed byproperi-y positioning thecontact fingers along the trolley line, and when the end oit the wardly out of inesli` with the idle gear 3 and into mesh with the gear 9 so that when the car, starts on its return journey the belt containing the naines ot the streets will berewound upon the roller 5, the V.solenoid bcing intermittently energized by placingcoir tact lingersV onA the opposite side ol' Ythe trolley wire where a single tracl; is used, or upon one side of an .additional trolley wire 4where double tracks are used. v

Y In order to control the stroke of the plunger 2l so that the belt niay be moved a universal distance with each operation oit the solenoid, collars 36 and 37 are adjustably secured upon the plunger 21 onV opw posite sides of a stop 38, said stop being fixed tothe side of ythe cabinet 7 in position to be engaged by saidL collars, and by Aadjusting the collars at different points on the plunger, the stroke olf the plunger roay j be readilyregulated.

y cabinet to receive and operate a belt containln connection with the indicator, additional gears and rollers may be placed in the ing advertisingniatter which is to be voperated in the saine manner and at the saine time as the operationotthe belt containing the names of the streets .or stations.

lt will further be seen that this device can be very cheaply inanuiactured and readily installed :tor use, and in view of the simplicity' of theparts they will be practically indestructible troni use.

lt will likewise be seen that the operation of the devce can be entirely ystopped by op- 2l" engages one 'of the lingers Having thus lully described our invention what we claim asnew and desire to secure by Letters `latento-ll the United States, is

fl. ln an indicator, the combination with a cabinet having a vertical slot in one side thereof, a' top anda V`bottoni roller journaled in the sides of the cabinet, a belt secured to both rollers and adapted to be alternately woundvon cachot said rollers, a driven gear on the end of the shalt or each roller outside ot the cabinet, a stub shaft secured in' the side oit the cabinet,

with the driven gear Voit the upper roller, a]r verticalV Ushaped frame' embracing one side wall oithe cabinet and having a vertical slot through which the shaft of the lower roller passes, a stub shaft journaled in theV IU-shaped ,iframe and entering the vertical slot in the cabinet, a driving gear on the last named shaft, ineans'to adjust the heightV of the lil-shaped traine to cause the driving gear to engage either the driven gear or" the lower roller or the idler gear,

and ineans to rotate the driving gear in eitherA adjustment. Y

2. ln an indicator, the combination with a cabinet having` a vertical slot in one'side thereof, a top .and a Abottoin roller journaled inthe sides of the cabinet, a belt secured to both rollers and adapted to be alternately wound on each ofsaid rollers, a driven gear 'on the end ot the shaft of each roller outside of the cabinet, a stub shalt secured in the side oithe cabinet,

an idler gear on the stub shaft ineshing with the gear ot the upper roller, a vertical U- shaped trahie embracing one side wall ot the cabinet and having a vertical slot through which the shaft of the lower roller4 passes,` a 4stub shaft journaled in the U- shaped traine and entering the vertical slot in the cabinet, adriving gear on the last `uained shaft, ineens to adjust theV height :of the llshaped trarne to cause the driving gear engage either the gear of the lower roller or the idlergear, a ratchet wheel on the driving gear, a lever loosely journaled on the driving gea-r shaft, a pawl on kthe lever to engage the ratchet wheel, a solenoid secured to the side of the cabinet, a plun-v ger in the solenoid attached at its lower: end to the outer end of the lever and reclprov cable by the energizing and denergizing of the solenoid, and means forjlimiting the eX- tent of movement of the plunger. f In testimony whereof we have signed our namesv to this speciicationinV the presence of two subserlblng'wltnesses.

WILLIAM F. SMITH. EDWIN P. SANFORD.

Witnesses:

Y OSCAR F@ LQCHHEAD,

Mrs. SMITH.y 

